Foot-guard



(No Model.

T. A. GRIFFIN.

FOOT GUARD.

Patented May 28, 1889.

N, PEYERS. F

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. GRIFFIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOOT-G UARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,998, dated May 28, 1889.

Application filed January 31, 1889. Serial No. 298,160. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. GRIFFIN, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Foot- Guards for Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to improvements in the kind of foot-guards represented in a previous patent to me, No. 382,083, granted May 1, 1888, said guard consisting of a T- shaped piece of metal whose head extends from rail to rail, and whose stem bisects the space between the rails.

My invention specially relates to devices for securing the foot-guard in place in the frog, switch, or guard-rail,where it is used, and its purpose is to increase the adaptability of the guard to varying situations, and especially to fit it for application to frogs, &c., already in use.

My invention consists in the parts and combinations hereinafter described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan View of a frog in which are placed my improved footrguards. Fig. 2 shows a method of securing the foot-guard described in my former patent above referred to. Fig. 3 shows the guard inserted in a switch in a manner difiering somewhat from that described in the former patent. Figs. at and 5 are perspective views of the two forms of guard herein newly described.

For the sake of greater completeness I have shown the guards with their several modifications herein; but a brief description only will be given of the forms which differ little or none from those shown in my former patent.

It will be seen by reference to Fig. 1 that the guards A A are secured in the same manner as described in my former patent, and that the guard 13 is nearly the same, the difference being that the end of the guard-stem b, where it is twisted or flattened for securing to the tie, is made longer than before and is bent at an angle with the stem, so as to pass under the rail and be spiked to the tie outside. I am thereby enabled to push the guard more nearly to the meeting-point of the rails, where the space is too narrow for the insertion of a spike between them, as contemplated in the previous patent, and the guard there fore affords a better protection.

In Fig. 3 I have shown the same shape applied to the rails of a switch, and in Fig. 4 is shown the same brace in perspective. The dotted lines of the last-named figure show how the end I) may be bent at various angles with the stem, so as to bring the spike-hole in a convenient position on the tie.

Fig. 2 shows a method described in my former patent for securing the foot-guards in the throat of the frog. This method is not well suited for fastening the guard in frogs already in use, because the drilling of one or both rails for the bolt is slow and expensive. I have therefore devised the fastening shown in Fig. l as being adapted both for old and new frogs. As shown in said Fig. 1 and in Fig. 5, the ends of the stems, instead of being pierced to receive a bolt, are bent into What maybe called hooks c c, for want of a more accurately-descriptive term, though the hooks may be sometimes in practice not actually hooked into each other,but engage by the abutment of their outer faces against each other.

A preferred method of applying the guards is as follows: They are placed between the rails, their hooked ends being somewhat separated, and are then driven toward each other, the hooks springing sufficiently to allow their widest portions to pass each other and then springing back, so as to prevent their accidental separation, while the T-heads d d, fitting between the converging rails, keep the guards in place in the frog and prevent the hooks from passing each other too far.

I claim- A foot-guard forrailways, consisting of a T- shaped piece of metal, its head being adapted to fit between the rails and having its stem bent at the end to a hook shape, whereby it is adapted to engage with another guard of similar shape, substantially as described.

THOMAS A. GRIFFIN.

WVitnesses:

J. I. VEEDER, P. H. T. MASON. 

